This is the perfect novel. When was the first time you suspected that most middle-aged men in senior government positions had secret agendas? What were the circumstances that led you to believe that civil servants, ministers, and spies can prioritize morality to suit their career objectives? We have all suspected that there are troubling conflicts-of-interest in our western governments and the intelligence communities that serve them. This is the best primer on why spies are what spies do: Namely, they are servants to a sad version of democracy whose ends justify the means. Every page is littered with regrets, lost love, memories that haunt the living, double-crossings, spies, and manipulative statesmen more concerned with acheiving their goals than how western democracy may be tarnished by such actions. LeCarre is more than a just a writer; he is a kataskopic-sociologist ("kataskopic"= meaning spycraft) He mines the darkest hearts of every western democracy reminding us that spycraft in its most evil of forms is not worth parading in front of enslaved people.

This is the perfect novel. When was the first time you suspected that most middle-aged men in senior government positions had secret agendas? What were the circumstances that led you to believe that civil servants, ministers, and spies can prioritize morality to suit their career objectives? We have all suspected that there are troubling conflicts-of-interest in our western governments and the intelligence communities that serve them. This is the best primer on why spies are what spies do: Namely, they are servants to a sad version of democracy whose ends justify the means. Every page is littered with regrets, lost love, memories that haunt the living, double-crossings, spies, and manipulative statesmen more concerned with acheiving their goals than how western democracy may be tarnished by such actions. LeCarre is more than a just a writer; he is a kataskopic-sociologist ("kataskopic"= meaning spycraft) He mines the darkest hearts of every western democracy reminding us that spycraft in its most evil of forms is not worth parading in front of enslaved people.